The meadows and forests are covered with so much snow in the Cansiglio plateau, on the southern border of the province of Belluno, that the many deer have started eating the hay set aside by farmers, says reader Mirco Poletto. And Italy’s winter is not as severe as many other countries.

Dr Poletto sent this article (which I have heavily translated and edited):

With highland pastures covered by heavy snow, along with the whole forest and the Plain of Cansiglio, a large herd of deer strayed beyond the regional government “reserve” and attacked and destroyed in a single night about 100 tons of high-protein forage (alfafa), causing “significant damage” (more than 10 000 euro).

It was the most valuable winter forage from the qualitative point of view; very expensive organic feed and very difficult to find, because the year 2012 was droughty and not very productive.

The herd will definitely return again, so the farmer must find a way to defend his property. Otherwise his 60 cattle will be put at hunger “all because a bunch of wild animals are protected and allowed uncontrolled to eat a free ride.” The farmer has asked environmentalists and President Zaia to immediately authorize the hunting of deer.

I had a problem with the amount eaten, so I went to your source, and since I understand Italian found the error, the article says quintale which also in Spanish is quintal (in Spanish is 100 lb). So I check and in Italian is about 100 kg

I do not like the attitude being expressed by the Italian farmer. Both he and his cattle are of little importance in my opinion. The survival of the wild animals from the “reservation” have over riding importance as far as I am concerned. The farmer and his cattle should be relocated to a less sensative location so as to make way for the necessary expansion of the reservation area. If the government give him compensation that is fine, but if they do not give him any compensation then tough on him. He and others like him are the scum who cut down rain forests and murder indiginous peoples and wild animals. Just so as to “earn” a few dollars. Reindeer are an endangered species, but humans are obviously far too many. In all honesty ask yourself which one of the two species is God the creator supporting. In the Bible we are told why God regretted creating humans and sent the flood to wipe the slate clean. Long live the reindeers. It is obvious why hunting the reindeers is illegal.

Who said they were reindeer anyway? This is not reindeer territory and most deer are not endangered. Besides, this article is not about farmers encroaching on deer territory but about deer being driven out of their territory by deep snow so that they are eating the stored hay for the cattle – which were already there. I sure hope you are a total vegan if you want food animal production to be stopped.

Typical agenda 21 socialist mindset by Neil ~ people are less valuable than wildlife. Listen Neil, People are the REASON there is CONSERVATION of wildlife in the first place. The whole idea people should suffer so reindeer are somehow “unifluenced” by our presence is completely insanity and does NOTHING to preserve the human species.

In fact Neil, why don’t you become the first to sell off ALL your worldly possessions and donate all the money to feeding the helpless reindeer. Please Neil, give us some real sign you really care besides outright socialist agenda against your fellow humans.

I believe Neil was referring to humans encroachment on wildlife habitats. Nothing socialist about that. Wild animals will soon be a vital to human survival as anything a farmer can manage to grow in a colder climate. The more wildlife available for consumption the more people will survive.

Please, as stated emphatically the wildlife have an “over riding” importance according to Neil. Please become literate before you comment. HIS whole intent is somehow portray humans as the encroachers when in fact humans are the reason wildlife conservation has improved. HIS whole intent is an AGENDA that removes humans from certain areas of habitat (ie: Agenda 21 of the United Nations, ie: socialist engineering agenda). Also, learn what Liberty means.

And, didn’t he state there are far too many humans? Whose side is Neil on? If there is a fit label, it would be environmental terrorist. And, somehow we should feel woeful based upon his God reference. I hope I’m NOT the only one noticing the hate in his comments.

Neil Love doesn’t believe that humans and cattle have the right to exist. Love must be a human, I think, also. Therefore, in his opinion, he does not have the right to exist either. So why is he still here? Classic hippie. You don’t have the right to exist, but, somehow, they do! People like him should live up to their own words and go jump off of a cliff. Maybe there will be a reindeer at the bottom of the cliff to catch him.

Farm animals and wild animals eating together is not that uncommon in Italy. I’ve been in Italy 2 years ago, in summer, and in rural area farm chickens were eating corn with wild pheasants in the back yard; even wild hare can come close to houses, if dogs don’t chase them away.
But this looks like a different case, Italian wild fauna is not used with heavy snow and cold.

In Italy “quintale” means exactly 100Kg. After that you need to know that the deer population in the Cansiglio plateau increased abnormously in the last years mainly due to the lack of natural predators. However foresters should have brought food to the deer as they did in the past years.

Neil is behaving like a troll but perhaps we shouldn’t give him such a hard time. If anyone doubts the importance of reindeer I suggest they ask Santa Claus. However, said animals are better adapted to the cold than most farm animals so they should leave cattle feed alone.
joke:- What do you get if you cross Global Warming with Xmas? A Rain Deer. Ho ho ho!
And, here’s a song I sang last Xmas:-

Xmas time,
Mistletoe and Wine,
And its raining all of the time,
It puts out the fire,
And drenches bare trees,
Thunder and Lightening are all that we see.

Other version:-

Xmas time,
Mistletoe you swine,
Children writing rude poems that rhyme,
No logs on the fire,
No gifts on the tree,
Austerity Measures for you and me.

Course, lets hope Robert is wrong about the Ice Age because I dread the Austerity Measures such a climate catastrophe may bring.

So, an italian farmer in italy is cutting down rainforests? Climate change must have accelerated by a huge extent if there are rainforests in italy. By the way, the italian farmer isn’t murdering indigenous people, he is one.

@ Jimb. I share your concern about forests my friend. However, the Amazon experienced severe 1 in 100 yr droughts both 2005 and 2010. Forest fires were appalling and recovery slower than expected. Nature overtook the loggers LOL. Therefore we observe natural forces to be far more powerful than man. The same is true for Global Warming and Cooling cycles. However, I still declare myself a voice for the pristine forest and its inhabitants.

Reindeer do not live in Italy. These are not reindeer. Reindeer are not found below the 50 degrees latitude. There may have been reindeer on the Italian peninsula during the Pleistocene but it has been many thousands of years since they roamed there. More likely Roe Deer. Not endangered. Breed like rabbits. Delicious when prepared right. A major pest when there are no predators around to keep their populations in check.
Shoot em’. Marinate em’. Grill em’. Eat em’ or sell em’ to off set lose of the feed they consumed.